The WORD
today (see http://usccb.org/bible/readings/053017.cfm)
reminds me that if I give it all to God, there would be no
regrets.
My uncle tells me of a picture
he keeps with him. it’s not a fancy picture taken by an artist using the state
of the art camera, but by a normal camera taken by a normal person. It is a
picture of me taking free throw while playing basketball in grade school. He
does not even remember if the shot went in, but what stuck to him was what I
told him – “I gave this my best shot”
I
believe God is like this as well. He wont care about the result as much as he
does with the process of us obtaining the result. God cares if we give him our
best shot, in whatever we do, and not just with the output of the game.
Why?
Because God deserves our best. God
deserves our all.
This
is what Paul did. In the first reading, we see that he is being called to go
somewhere else and he probably would not see the people again. But he has
confidence as he is about to leave them. He knows that he gave his all. He
knows that he gave his best shot. He gave all his strong and effort to proclaim
God to them, so he is leaving with confidence and without regrets.
Giving God our
best, our all, should give us the confidence in the results.
God expects only our best. He
does not compare us with others – with what others give, with the service of
others, with what others say. God looks at our heart and checks if what we give
him is our best. He is not concerned if the amount we give is just a fraction
of what others give. What is important to him is if we give our first fruits,
if we give until it hurts, if we give from what we have and need, not just out
of our surplus. God does not care of we cannot preach and teach as great
preachers do. IF we live our lives in a way pleasing to him, if we teach others
the best way we can, then that is more than enough for God. He does not care if
we give up a lot for lent or when we sacrifice. What is more important to him
is our heart and our intentions as we give these things up. If we give him our
best, that is more than enough for Him.
May we be moved and challenged
to give God our best shot, our all, and not just to give him out of our surplus
or what is comfortable for us.
Father God,
Thank you for
today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for this chance to ponder
upon your Word. Thank you for the reminder. Lord, sorry for the times I do not
give you my all. Sorry for the times I do not give you my best. Lord, I ask
that you help me have a heart that will give my best to you. Help me not to
compare myself with other people, and not just to give you what is surplus,
what is comfortable for me to give to you. May I give my best to you – the
first fruits of my labor, the best of my time, my service, my resources. Remind
me that you are not just concerned on the outcome, but rather on me giving my
best every step of the way. May I always give you and offer you my all, my best
shot in life. Amen.
Blessed
day!
In
Christ,
-g-
May 30, 2017
Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter
Lectionary: 298
Reading 1ACTS 20:17-27
of the Church at Ephesus summoned.
When they came to him, he addressed them,
"You know how I lived among you
the whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia.
I served the Lord with all humility
and with the tears and trials that came to me
because of the plots of the Jews,
and I did not at all shrink from telling you
what was for your benefit,
or from teaching you in public or in your homes.
I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks
to repentance before God and to faith in our Lord Jesus.
But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem.
What will happen to me there I do not know,
except that in one city after another
the Holy Spirit has been warning me
that imprisonment and hardships await me.
Yet I consider life of no importance to me,
if only I may finish my course
and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus,
to bear witness to the Gospel of God's grace.
"But now I know that none of you
to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels
will ever see my face again.
And so I solemnly declare to you this day
that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you,
for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God."
Responsorial PsalmPS 68:10-11, 20-21
or:
R. Alleluia.
A bountiful rain you showered down, O God, upon your inheritance;
you restored the land when it languished;
Your flock settled in it;
in your goodness, O God, you provided it for the needy.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed day by day be the Lord,
who bears our burdens; God, who is our salvation.
God is a saving God for us;
the LORD, my Lord, controls the passageways of death.
R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
AlleluiaJN 14:16
I will ask the Father
and he will give you another Advocate
to be with you always.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelJN 17:1-11A
"Father, the hour has come.
Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,
just as you gave him authority over all people,
so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.
Now this is eternal life,
that they should know you, the only true God,
and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
I glorified you on earth
by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.
Now glorify me, Father, with you,
with the glory that I had with you before the world began.
"I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world.
They belonged to you, and you gave them to me,
and they have kept your word.
Now they know that everything you gave me is from you,
because the words you gave to me I have given to them,
and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you,
and they have believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me,
because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours
and everything of yours is mine,
and I have been glorified in them.
And now I will no longer be in the world,
but they are in the world, while I am coming to you."
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